One night after the Wabash basketball team scored a total of 35 points, the Little Giants nearly overcame a 30-point deficit before losing 73-54 to Wheaton College in the consolation game of the 14th Pete Thorn Invitational.
The Little Giants saw a red-hot Wheaton Thunder team hit the first 14 shots of the game to jump out to a 33-11 advantage in the first 10 minutes. The Thunder finished the half 20-of-29 from the field, compared to 8-of-24 for Wabash, giving Wheaton a 50-20 lead.
The Thunder would need ever point of the lead in the second half.
Wabash switched defenses to put a stop to the Thunder's offensive attack. While the Little Giants held Wheaton to two points over 12 minutes in the second half, they started to pick up the scoring at the other end of the floor. Wabash outscored Wheaton 22-2 to trim the lead to 10 points. Wabash had the basketball with a chance to cut the lead to single digits, but a turnover on a charge call ended the run while sparking the Thunder on offense. Wheaton responded with an 8-0 run to push the lead back to 18. The Little Giants would get no closer, trading baskets through the final eight minutes.
"We went to the 2-3 zone, something we really haven't done well," said head coach Mac Petty. "But we weren't executing our other defensive plan. We were giving up too many baseline cuts by getting too high. Once we stayed home on defense in the second, we executed better."
Junior Adonis Joseph (Mishawaka, IN/Mishawaka) (above left) led the Little Giants with 12 points. Sophomore Ryan Stephens (Zionsville, IN/Zionsville) (right)added a career-high nine points in his first start of the season. Junior Kyle Medeiros (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis) also had nine points.
Wabash (4-5) returns to the court December 29 to play Heidelberg in the first game of the Papa John's/Country Hearth Inn Centre College Tournament.